Why Have
Women Been Overlooked?
Editor of
The Missoulian:
There is an element of humor for the
discerning in the fact that those who officiated at the birth of the
Geographical society were apparently ignorant touching the presence of women in
our state. None of the commendatory letters read o this occasion bore their
signature, and they were ignored when it came to the distribution of offices
and the naming of committees. And yet it is likely that there are as many women
as men within our borders who are well qualified to fill these positions.
Wherein is Helen Clarke, who was born in
Fort Benton when that town was a trading post of the American Fur company, and
who is a woman of marked ability and education, less prepared than Duncan
MacDonald to give the Indian name of mountain or stream.
Taking into consideration the personnel of
the gathering it may be that political acumen is the main requisite. Then why
should Jeanette Rankin be overlooked—the woman who conducted such a brilliant
suffrage campaign and led her host to victory last fall?
If scientific attainments are desirable to
obtain recognition surely a botanist like Mrs. Clinton H. Moore is eligible.
There are many professional women in
Montana, and of these Dr. Maria Dean is best known. Yet Dr. Dean has neither
part nor lot in the Geographical society, necessarily.
Executive ability is always a valuable asset
in any organization. There are few men who possess this qualification in a
greater degree than Mrs. Tylar Thompson. Did Mrs. Thompson receive a special
invitation to be present at the meeting held November 29? If so, her regrets
were not made public.
Mrs. Nat Collins is one of the few, if not
the only woman who has held office in the Pioneer society. Was Mrs. Collins
consulted when the Geographical society was in process of formation? No letter
was read from her stating that she “heartily accorded with the plan.”
The pioneers were extolled at the meeting on
Friday, but the pioneers it seems were all of the superior sex. What Montana
would have been without its pioneer women can be gathered from the journals of
the early fur traders. From the coming to these then western wilds of the
wives, sisters and daughters of the pioneers dates the struggle towards a
decent standard of living, and the advent of law and order in the community.
The women of the west have contributed their full share towards the upbuilding
of the states where they reside. In many of these states they have the ballot.
Are they always to be a negligible quantity when offices or honors are to be
bestowed? Wait a few years and observe, my friends. This is an age of progress,
and the day is fast approaching when men will not have the hardihood to risk
the criticisms that would follow their modest assertion, “The State—We Are It.”
Martha Edgerton
Plassmann.
[The Daily
Missoulian 6 November, 1915]
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